Dixon's refurbished rubbish

Bonzodog

I'd be interested to find out from others their experience of purchasing "Refurbished" items from Dixons stores and online. Also how well or badly they've been served by their after-sales service.

Looking elsewhere on review sites of stores, it seems they don't fare too well.

I recount my own experience as a cautionary tale and hopefully, as advice for others.

Last week I ordered a refurbished laptop from Dixons online. As an IT consultant of some 20 years before retirement, I'm pretty well clued in when it comes to PC hardware and software and it was evident from the very outset that there was something drastically wrong with the machine. After repeated self-shutdowns without warning after just a few minutes use during the setup procedure, I ran the built-in self-diagnostics routines. With only with 4% of the test completed, the laptop crashed, shut down and would not even switch on again.

Now one could say that any machine as complex as a laptop could not/would not malfunction, but my point is this:

If the unit had genuinely been refurbished, it would have been evident to anyone but an idiot that the machine suffered a serious malfunction, as the fault manifested itself from the very outset when the machine was switched on.

The only possible conclusion therefore was that the machine had been returned as faulty by a previous customer and Dixon's had simply re-packed the item (not even in it's original packaging) and had palmed it off on the next customer. I have to stress that based on my extensive experience, I can assure you that there simply could not be any other possible explanation.

I've purchased any number of refurbished goods, including laptops, from Ebay and Amazon which have given years of faultless service.

So why should there be such a difference between such outlets and outfits like Dixons?

Quite simple really. Providing one takes a few elementary precautions and pays through Paypal, no trader in on Amazon, and especially Ebay, would dare try such dishonest tactics on customers as fear of negative feedback would effectively be the deathknell to any aspiration they may have as a trader. Dissatisfied Dixon's customers on the other hand have no such comeback and Dixons are well aware of this, so it's a policy of "What the market will bear" as far as they are concerned.

My advice?

:mad: Avoid "Refurbished" goods from Dixons like the plague. :mad:

(which also seems to be the general consensus from other customers experience)

Bonzodog

PS
The customer review site I referred to above can be found on http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews6813.html